The EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets framework is producing very different results depending on where you look—and Germany is running away with the lead.
Fresh ESMA data shows German regulators have authorized 57 crypto-asset service providers, roughly a third of all 244 MiCA approvals across the bloc. France trails at 26, tied with the Netherlands as the second-largest hub. The licensing cliff hits July 1.
France has been sprinting to catch up. In the final June wave alone, Paris issued five new approvals. Malta added two during that period. Names on the French list include Bpifrance Investissement, Paymium, and Meria.
Meanwhile, five EU member states—Greece, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, and Romania—haven’t issued a single MiCA license. Poland’s parliament passed the necessary legislation but the president vetoed it three times, leaving the country without any active licensing framework as the deadline looms. Greece’s gap is especially notable given that Binance actually applied there before withdrawing and heading elsewhere.
And then there’s Italy, which dominates a different list entirely: the non-compliant CASP register. Italy accounts for 160 of the 162 entries, with just one apiece from the Netherlands and Slovakia (MEXC and LWEX respectively).
The takeaway? MiCA was supposed to create a unified European crypto market. Instead, anyone operating across borders will need to navigate a patchwork of national rules—with some countries barely participating at all.
